ABSTRACT
Purpose:
to verify the occurrence and the most frequent type of auditory disorders in children exposed to toxoplasmosis during pregnancy.
Methods:
a retrospective, longitudinal study carried out in a public health institution of São Paulo. Records of children born between 2010 and 2015 were analyzed and distributed into two groups: study group, composed of 48 children born to mothers with a diagnosis of toxoplasmosis during their pregnancy; and control group, composed of 43 children without congenital infection, who were accompanied due to low birth weight. The children were evaluated two to four times during their first two years of life, by means of peripheral and central auditory function assessment.
Results:
47 children underwent only two evaluations and only 11 completed all the evaluations up to 24 months. In the control group, 58.1% had normal hearing, 37.2% conductive loss, 4.7% cochlear loss and absence of retrocochlear disorder. In the study group, 56.3% presented normal hearing, 20.8% conductive loss, 2.1% cochlear loss, and 20.8% retrocochlear disorder.
Conclusion:
children exposed to toxoplasmosis during pregnancy did not differ from non-exposed children in relation to the occurrence of conductive or cochlear hearing loss. However, they showed a higher occurrence of retrocochlear disorder.
Keywords:
Hearing; Toxoplasmosis; Spontaneous Otoacoustic Emissions; Audiometry; Hearing Loss